Fatalistic Recklnessness
by alxxiis
Summary: One Shot: Telyra's arrogance lands her in a battle she can't win.


She lay, her head and back against stone. Her chest rose in spurts, falling just as quickly. Tiny lights danced across her gaze; white, or were they orange? Warm. Hot. Too hot. They weren't dancing, they were surging passed her, bursting against the pale blue shimmer spawning from her hand; the ward she didn't remember conjuring.

The hum in her ears grew to a roar, vibrating in her mind, waking it from a daze.

A legendary dragon, the most powerful type she'd come across. That's what she had been fighting. A long arduous battle that she couldn't recall much of, not that it mattered. She only could think of the pain of being thrown into the Word Wall the dragon had claimed as his home. Head smashing against stone, stomach lurching at the claws that tore into it, wind stolen from her lungs when her back collided with the wall.

She should've waited, sat tight until reconnecting with Miraak, but hubris, it seemed, was stronger than logic. Erik had warned her, but…

_"You're getting reckless."_

_Telyra rolled her eyes and chuckled. "We're adventurers. Heroes. We're supposed to be a little reckless."_

[[MORE]]

_"I'm serious," Erik said, his usually jovial tone long gone. "You're going to get yourself killed, and you'll probably take me with you."_

_"When have I ever needlessly put you in danger?"_

_"How about when you launched yourself off a cliff?" he asked._

_"How did that endanger you?"_

_"I almost jumped down after you! I couldn't see you. I didn't even know if you were alive!"_

_"That wouldn't have been my fault," she said. "I have the means to protect myself."_

_"Yes, yes, your legendary dragon powers," Erik said sighing. "You're not invincible."_

_"I mean, aren't I?" she asked. "Prophecy and whatnot."_

_He scoffed. "You think some divine intervention is going to keep you from dying?"_

_"Kind of," she admitted. "If I die, Alduin takes over the world or ends it. I don't think the Divines would allow that."_

_"You… You really believe that." He shook his head and held up his hands. "You know what? You can act however crazy you want, but I'm not going to get myself killed trying to save you."_

_"I never asked you to."_

Where's my divine intervention? she thought.

Telyra let out a bark of laughter and continued staring upward at the sparks flying by. Her body grew numb: she couldn't even tell if her magicka ran low. The dragon continued spewing its fiery breath against her ward; it sounded like glass breaking as little cracks began to form in her iridescent shield.

Worse situations than this hadn't managed to kill her, yet here she was with no apparent victory or even escape in reach. But prophecy needed her, the world needed her. She was to kill Alduin, she was the Last Dragonborn. Well, no. That wasn't really true anymore, she reminded herself. She messed with prophecy. She brought back the First, the original meant to destroy Alduin.

Prophecy didn't need her anymore.

She took a deep breath and let her shoulders slump as she released a sigh and looked into the fire breaking against her magic. Her gaze bounced to each of the forming cracks.

"Huh," she breathed. "It looks like the Ritual."

The constellation-like fractures deepened and reached out to one another.

Her thoughts returned to Miraak, and she couldn't find it within herself to regret saving him, even if it meant the abandonment of her prophetic armor. He'd be angry with her, she was sure, but he would fulfill his role this time. And he'd live. He'd continue bettering his name, rewriting his story.

And Erik… well, that was an argument never to be mended it seemed. She could see him standing at her gravesite, crying and gloating. _I told you, Telly, you damned fool. _He'd have her buried next to her father, or at least have her marker there. There likely wouldn't be enough left of her to bury.

Closing her eyes, she returned her head to the wall, resting it as if she were taking a nap.

"The eternal nap," she mumbled and chuckled. "Erik would appreciate the drama."

Licks of flame pushed through the deepest fissures in her ward, catching her fingertips. The cracks suddenly stretched across its diameter, crackling before bursting completely.

"_TIID KLO UL_!"

Her body became limp, ready to accept whatever came next. She expected the blinding pain of fire to engulf her, but instead she felt an embrace, something wrapping around her and lifting her off the ground. Her eyes remained closed, not daring to look for fear of triggering the pain that should have swallowed her.

Icy wind bit at her exposed skin as she was carried away. It was a welcome pain, certainly more so than what fire would've brought, but as quickly as the chill came, it stopped. It was replaced by a soft glow and a comforting warmth that filled her stomach and spread to her limbs.

"_Vopraan_," a voice pleaded. "_Zu'u bolog hi._"

The words were lost to her, but she was too busy basking in the warm light.

"_Dii fask ruvak_," a voice said.

A low hum sounded from her throat. She knew those words.

"Telyra?"

She hummed again, smiling and blinking her eyes open. A face she knew well, marred with scars she'd mapped out countless times and frown lines etched deep enough they were near-permanent, stared down at her.

"My divine intervention," she muttered, chuckling as best she could and reaching up to touch his face. "Miraak."


End file.
